England came flying out of the blocks, notching two tries in the first 20 minutes to set up a fantastic 24-22 victory against France in Paris. Tries from Manu Tuilagi, Ben Foden and Tom Croft ended France's 10-match unbeaten home run in the Six Nations, and left England in contention to snatch the title away from Wales with one match left to play.

MirrorSport's Zarif Rasul takes a closer look at today's proceedings.

1. Early energy

France coach Phillippe Saint-Andre rued his side's sluggish start during their 17-17 draw with Ireland last weekend, and he would've been fuming after his players took their time to get going again today. England scored two tries in a blistering opening 18-minute period, taking advantage of France's woeful lack of early energy. Yet again France were coaxed into playing after a series of sharp early shocks.

2. Must improve discipline

Stuart Lancaster's men were guilty of conceding cheap penalties in the defeat to Wales, and they appeared to repeat some similar mistakes again today. England came close to conceding three times as many penalties as France, with referee Alain Rolland forced to lecture captain Chris Robshaw on the conduct of his team-mate on several occasions. However, Lancaster will surely take heart from his side's ability to hold out without conceding points during Charlie Sharples' stint in the sin-bin.

3. Fresh blood

A shuffle of the English pack was much-needed after the World Cup, but it appears as though France could've benefited from a similar policy. Just five England starters remained from the side that lost to France in New Zealand in October, whereas France retained a greater number of players from that World Cup quarter-final meeting. Much was made of the experience of the France side prior to kick-off - France's starting XV had three times as many caps as England's - but the youthful vigour and verve of Lancaster's troops proved to be far too much for Saint-Andre's charges to handle.

4. Ruthless

England were accused of a lack of creativity and desire to win in the build-up to this game, but they worked hard to find gaps in the French defence, and exploited them with ruthless efficiency. Tom Croft's match-winning try came as a result of him identifying and exposing the space left by Aurelien Rougerie, while Ben Morgan's powerful jinking run in the first half created the opportunity for Ben Foden to touch down.

5. Half-back horror

Saint-Andre had intriguingly altered his half-back pairing from last week's clash with Ireland, drafting in Julien Dupuy and Lionel Beauxis in place of Morgan Parra and Francois Trinh-Duc. The decision backfired, with the pair struggling to dictate the play and create openings for France. Parra and Trinh-Duc eventually took to the field, but they were left with minimal time to make an impact.

6. Knock-on nightmare

Referee Alain Rolland came under scrutiny for the way in which he handled today's proceedings, with the decision to issue a yellow card to Charlie Sharples for knocking on proving to be particularly controversial. The Gloucester wing appeared to make a genuine attempt to intercept the ball, but Rolland sent him to the sin-bin, despite opting against penalising Wesley Fofana for a similar incident a few moments earlier.